13 greatest bands/artists ever

The chasms in musical taste are a source of unbounding bewilderment to me, after earlier dismissing Fleetwood Mac you extoll the virtues of probably the most over hyped, repetitive,  uninspiring band for many a year.
Like U2 their initial offerings broke the mould but they then sank into a sea of complacency.
Wouldn't criticise anyone's preference musically but the comparisons and comments made of other bands sometimes appears hollow when that that preference is declared and held up for scrutiny.
Lyndsay Buckingham for example could play Mark Knopfler off the stage   

U2's initial offerings were of a band that showed great promise and followed them up with more than that deliverance of promise in some of the most unexpected ways. Achtung Baby remains one of the great reinventions in music ever in my honest opinion. I really don't believe there is any complacency there stuey. Also Dire Straits - I love Mark Knopfler (our Lucas looks more and more like him everyday it seems incidentally!) and I think songs like Tunnel of Love, Sultans of Swing are amongst the very best song I've ever heard. Don't know about Lyndsay Buckingham playing him off the stage either! He takes the piss with his finger picking at times! One of the greatest guitarists of all time and much more favourable than Buckingham IMO.

Dire Straits - Sultans Of Swing (Alchemy Live)


Also surprised that there hasn't been more shouts for The Kinks. Something about them says to me they are dreadfully underrated. I think Ray Davies's satirical lyrics has been something that no band has quite matched. It's easy to write politics into songs (so much that it gets done to death) but much harder to exemplify satire of that subtle nature which no lyricist out there has the talent. Arthur (or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) to me remains the ultimate concept album! Also they are just the most uniquely British band ever. They are about as British as every other British stereotype you can think of! No British band seems to exist producing music today that is so identifiably British. But then again it's hard to sound British in an era when no one really knows what it stands for. All that Cool Britannia/New Labour craze really sent British identity to it's grave along with the cringing hysteria that went with Princess Diana's death.


The Kinks - Victoria

Saw the Kinks live in their prime at a college concert many years ago mate, you are preaching to the converted.
Some modern day ''super groups'' do not bear comparison, moreso when you consider the fact that the Kinks still have a credible fan base five decades after their conception.

Also surprised that there hasn't been more shouts for The Kinks. Something about them says to me they are dreadfully underrated. I think Ray Davies's satirical lyrics has been something that no band has quite matched. It's easy to write politics into songs (so much that it gets done to death) but much harder to exemplify satire of that subtle nature which no lyricist out there has the talent. Arthur (or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) to me remains the ultimate concept album! Also they are just the most uniquely British band ever. They are about as British as every other British stereotype you can think of! No British band seems to exist producing music today that is so identifiably British. But then again it's hard to sound British in an era when no one really knows what it stands for. All that Cool Britannia/New Labour craze really sent British identity to it's grave along with the cringing hysteria that went with Princess Diana's death.

I love The Kinks. One of my all-time favorites. Dave was such an great guitarist, and one who's very underrated. I always laugh at bands like the Who and the Stones because the Kinks did all that stuff better. The reason they tend to fly under the radar was their effective ban in the States. I think that hurt their popularity and in turn their legacy, although true fans will recognize their greatness of course.

The on thing I love about Ray Davies is the "Arthur" album you mentioned: In an era when everyone's writing about Vietnam, Ray writes about WWII haha

I love The Kinks. One of my all-time favorites. Dave was such an great guitarist, and one who's very underrated. I always laugh at bands like the Who and the Stones because the Kinks did all that stuff better. The reason they tend to fly under the radar was their effective ban in the States. I think that hurt their popularity and in turn their legacy, although true fans will recognize their greatness of course.

The on thing I love about Ray Davies is the "Arthur" album you mentioned: In an era when everyone's writing about Vietnam, Ray writes about WWII haha

Love the moment on Mr Churchill Says when the air raid siren comes in! I always get the impression they were so uber British which is why they weren't taken much interest bar the odd song. Singing about Queen Victoria definitely has more resonance here than it does in the US!

Love the moment on Mr Churchill Says when the air raid siren comes in! I always get the impression they were so uber British which is why they weren't taken much interest bar the odd song. Singing about Queen Victoria definitely has more resonance here than it does in the US!

I think they went uber British like just after one of their disastrous US tours, so it may have been a cause/effect type thing. Not 100 percent sure though.